We had a book sale at school and everyone was talking about this Harry Potter character, so I decided what the heck, I'll buy a softcover edition and read it for the report. It's funny how we never realize what an impact something will have on us. I read the first chapter and it caught my attention. But then the next two chapters took me forever to read. I was bored. At nine years old it didn't take much. But my Aunt Karen was reading the books to my cousins at the time and she told me to read on, I wouldn't be disappointed.
Well if Aunt Karen says so! So I read onto the fourth chapter and that's what really spiraled the story and I could now appreciate those few chapters prior. I continued to read the book and it was in fact a very good story. I became invested in the characters, I enjoyed the plot, and just imagining this magical school and what it'd be like to be at such a place was excited and made me feel good.
Then one night I read the last two chapters of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and I was bewildered and shocked at the big twist J.K Rowling had! No book had ever shocked me the way this book turned out! I am pretty sure I even gasped! There was no way I was figuring this out.
One my eleventh birthday, my Aunt Karen bought me the next two installments of the series Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She also whispered in my ear how Harry Potter found out he was was wizard on his eleventh birthday. We couldn't help the excitement of the silly coincidence!
That summer I read both books quickly and was just as shocked and amazed with the development of this story and the twists and turns the plot had in store. That summer the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, came out and the dramatic twists was beyond thrilling, and it was at this time the books turned dark as well. The story was very real and the story would unfold as J.K Rowling had planned from day one.
I was in sixth grade and I couldn't get enough of the stories so I would read them over and over and over. By reading them over and over as I did, I really appreciated the work and world J.K Rowling had created. The back story and cross referencing, the consistency, the brilliance of the story was absolutely fascinating. I am afraid if you haven't read the books, my words truly don't do justice to the work this woman had put into these books.
Anyone who read these books not only got a true sense of entering an entire new world, which is supposedly the job of any story in a book, but you felt like you actually knew the characters as if they were your real life everyday friends. Rowling hit the emotional chords that made you cry, they made you laugh, she made you happy and excited, she also made you scared and sad. She didn't spare any part of these books to make her audience happy, she kept these books just the way she had planned them out, never compromising the plot. There is also so much background information left over that she could most likely make a several volume encyclopedia of Harry Potter info. To J.K Rowling, there was an entire background history for even the unimportant characters, and if you backtracked and cross referenced them in the books, she was consistent.
She also created what I believe is the most feared and terrifying, most horrible villain of any story imaginable. The Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, who an entire world even feared just speaking his name, was spine chilling. Worse than Bowser, Darth Vader, Ganondorf, the White Witch, no one was as chilling and horrifying than Lord Voldemort. She really captured the evil of all evil with this character throughout the series.
You felt the fear in the books in not knowing who to trust, not knowing who was good or who was bad, the killing of some beloved characters, some you never thought would go missing, some that destroyed our character friend's entire lives. But if these tragedies happened in real life, they wouldn't change, and neither would these stories. Imagine living in a world where the most feared individual infiltrated the greatest schools of the world, our law enforcements, our governments, and you had no clue who to trust, even people you've trusted your entire life! The fear she captured brilliantly with this character.
And as Harry books went on, so did Harry himself. He was growing up and of course the adolescent years were difficult for all the characters. An eleven year old and twelve year old problems were certainly not a fifteen and sixteen year old problems. Romance and friendships flying whichever way. Family difficulties, families breaking apart, all real life circumstances in the Muggle world or wizarding world.
But the friendship that is written in the pages of these books are classic. I think people would want to replicate the true and wonderful friendships in these books. They are real, true, and every circumstance a friendship can go through, good and bad, are in these books. And only the truest or truest friends can go through these circumstances and survive with the great deal of love and support as the characters themselves grow. There are fights, jealousy, tears, but also joy, laughter, and celebration.
I would love to meet J.K Rowling. She of course has in fact helped many people in the world with her stories. Probably saved many too. I would personally thank you for creating these wonderful characters, these wonderful stories, and for creating these stories that I used to get lost in and make me feel good and happy growing up. She is brilliant and contributed a great deal to my childhood. J.K Rowling deserves all that she has because of these stories. If you have never read the Harry Potter series, I highly recommend that you do.
Yours in service,
MASTER TRENTO
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